Summer in SLC

We just got back from a fun trip visiting family in Utah. It was a jam packed weekend full of family, marathons, BBQ's and good food.

Our flight seemed super fast and had great views of Mount St. Helen.



We arrived to a wall of heat and immediately started melting as we waited for our ride. Luckily Kyle was there in no time so we didn't fully melt away. The plan was to meet up with family downtown for dinner at Em's but since we had a bit of time before our reservation we decided to drive over to Memory Grove and see where Dan and I had our wedding reception.







I love this park, the stream and the cute little house. It was fun to be back, it has been almost 12 years since we've been there. Right before we got married there was a tornado in Utah, which is so unusual, that ripped out quite a few trees. Luckily it didn't look too bad for our reception and it did nothing to the house or other structures.

The food at Em's was really good, though the service was a little slow. But it was fun to get caught up with family and just enjoy each others company.

Friday we slept in, then decided to go to Kennecot Copper Mine. Dan and I have never been and always wanted to go. We stopped by my brother's house on the way so we could see the progress on his new yard. It looks great, they have done an amazing job. The mine had a small visitor center with a movie that was pretty interesting. I mostly enjoyed being in the sun and seeing how huge the mine is, fun fact: you can put two Willis (Sears) Towers on top of each other inside the mine. Also huge are the trucks that haul out the mined material. Look at those tires! They need ladders to climb into the truck, no kidding!












Saturday was RACE DAY! Dan, Rebecca and Shannon all did the Morgan Half Marathon. Dan ran and did an amazing job shaving off 5 minutes from his last race. Rebecca and Shannon walked and also totally rocked it! They did it under 4 hours which is a huge accomplishment!

We got there an hour early so had time to laugh it up in the van, it was freezing so we stayed out of the elements up to the last minute. The morning ended up being overcast which was so great, the race would have been unbearable in the scorching sun.



Headed to the finish line! I loved that Shannon's husband and kids met her and walked to the finish line as a family. So cute.





After the marathon we went to a family BBQ. We had great food and it was so nice to be with family. While we were there we looked through the yard. It seems like we're always there in the winter so it was fun to go up by the shed and root cellar. We got a shot of the christmas lights that Dan put in a plastic bag and staple gunned to the shed years ago as a teen...I guess it was too hard to string them around any further! I'd never noticed Dan's name and hand carved into the steps.






To end the evening we drew names and went in order to pick out some of Dan's mom's cookie cutters. She used to have them nailed to the walls surrounding her kitchen. It was always pretty amazing to see. You can tell from the pictures that many haven't been used in years (look at that dust!). Everyone got the ones they wanted and had sentimental attachment too. Dan got a shamrock that he remembers making with his mom and a huge bear cookie cutter since he loved bears. He used to trace the cookie cutter and draw ties on the bears and give them to his mom as a card. How cute is that? We got many others and I can't wait to use them.






Sunday we BBQ'd with my family. The food was again amazing, but the weather...not so much. It started to lightening and thunder so we only had time to see one hula hoop extravaganza by my nieces :) It was actually kind of nice to watch the storm roll in and enjoy the cool breeze.

Monday we had a great lunch at the Copper Onion and ice cream cones from Iceberg. We had a really fun time, it was busy and full of memories and laughing...as it should be.

Spicy Fennel Relish

When is is NOT canning season at our house? Seriously! I really do enjoy making everything from scratch and controlling ALL the ingredients that I put into the food that I consume. I was perusing my canning cookbooks and came across a fennel relish recipe. I decided to use this as the base and mix it up a little. The base recipe called for fennel and sweet onions. I wanted more of a kick, so I added the yellow and orange bell peppers, and much more spice then the recipe called for. The beauty of picking and canning, is pretty much you can put whatever whole types of spices you want into your base brine and experiment with flavor profiles and heat.



Slicing up the sweet onions.



Layering the sliced onions, fennel and peppers with canning salt. This was the start of the 24-hour water extraction process.



The next day, after the 24-hour salt extraction, I thoroughly rinsed the vegetables. Also in the background are yellow beets. I ended up canning this spicy fennel relish, pickled yellow beets in burgundy wine, and several jars of my take on Major Gray's spicy mango chutney.



Prepping my lids, sterilizing my jars, and starting the picking solution.



Cider and white wine vinegar mix (for best flavor)



Adding the salted "veg" to the pot to simmer down for a few minutes.



Adding poppy seeds, mustard seed, celery seed, pink peppercorns and other spices to name a few for the heat component.



Post cooking, and getting ready to ladle in to my prepared jars.



Pre water bath processing.



Post water bath processing. Yielded 11 half pints. Will make a excellent condiment to grilled meats, and probably a few holiday gifts this upcoming holiday season.

Dan's Spicy Fennel Relish

2 large sweet onions, thinly sliced
2 fennel bulbs, thinly sliced
2 bell peppers, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled & thinly sliced
3 TBS pickling salt
1 cup white wine vinegar
2 cups cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Red peppercorns (I used 6 per jar)
Mustard Seeds (I added to the brined vegetables)
Celery Seeds (I added to the brined vegetables)
Poppy Seeds (I added to the brined vegetables)
Fennel Seeds (I used about 12 per jar)

Directions:

Slice onions in half lengthwise, then in very thin slices crosswise to form half circles. Cut fennel bulbs in half lengthwise and remove core; thinly slice crosswise to form half circles. Cut bell peppers in half and thinly slice. Place onion slices, fennel slices and bell pepper slices in a non-reactive bowl and sprinkle with salt. Toss and let stand for 24 hours. Rinse twice and drain thoroughly.

Prep lids and sterilize jars. Meanwhile combine vinegars, water, and sugar in a medium size pot. Bring to a boil over high heat to ensure sugar dissolves, boil about 2 minutes. Add vegetables and garlic and whole spices and return just to a boil, stirring constantly for three more minutes. Remove from heat.

In the bottom of each sterilized jar add fennel seed and peppercorns to the bottom. Remove onion / fennel / pepper mixture vegetables from liquid with a pair of tongs and pack into hot jars using a plastic spatula. Pour liquid over vegetables leaving a 1/2 inch head space. Discard the rest of the brine. Also, distribute remaining whole spices, mustard, celery and poppy seeds, equally amongst jars. Clean rims, apply lids and rings.

Process 10 minutes for half-pint jars and 15 minutes for pint jars in a rolling boil. Allow to cool for 24 hours. Check for seals. Store sealed jars in a cool place.

Use relish within 12-16 months.

Homemade Chicago Style Movie Night

I like a good deal. Especially when a good deal can be had at Williams-Sonoma, one of my favorite stores. When Holly & I visited Chicago, we had world famous deep dish pizza. In my book, you pretty much can not go wrong with pizza. I like thin crust style, New York style, traditional Italian style and deep dish. When I saw these custom mini deep dish pizza pans on sale, I knew I needed a set.



I started out actually with the Williams-Sonoma test kitchen basic deep dish pizza dough recipe. I adjusted it some, replacing the refined sugar with some honey, and adding some garlic salt to the dough to give it some additional flavor. This dough turned our perfectly, and it was light and chewy, yet with a crust after the necessary proofing in the oven and placement in the well oiled pans.



I like combination, so I picked up some good organic turkey italian style sausage. I also cooked down and caramelized a bunch of onion, more garlic, red peppers and mushrooms. Holly is a straight up cheese girl, so she got some homemade "Quatro Formaggio." A healthy dose of dried herbs when in both kinds of pizza.



Homemade deep dish meat lovers.



Homemade deep dish cheese lovers. This made a nice Friday night evening in, making these with Holly, having a nice salad with it, and watching movies in our PJ's. The slightly adjusted dough recipe follows.

Deep Dish Pizza Dough:

1 T active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water (105° to 110°F)
2 T honey
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. garlic salt

Directions:

To prepare the dough, in the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the yeast, water and sugar and whisk by hand until dissolved. Let stand for 5 minutes, then add the vegetable oil, flour and salt. Place the bowl on the mixer, attach the dough hook and knead on low speed until smooth and pliable, about 5 minutes.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface and divide into 4 equal pieces. Knead each piece by hand for 30 seconds, shaping the dough into a ball and dusting with a little flour if needed. Dust a baking sheet with flour and place the dough on the sheet. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let the dough rise at room temperature for 2 hours.

Position a rack in the lower third of an oven and preheat to 450°F.

Divide the remaining olive oil among 4 mini deep-dish pizza pans (about 2 tsp. per pan), thoroughly greasing each pan. Place a dough ball in each pan and, using your fingers, press the dough in an even layer across the bottom and up the sides of the pans.

Place favorite cheese directly on each pressed dough round. Top with the mozzarella, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and favorite toppings, dividing evenly. Using the back of a spoon, spread 1/2 cup of the tomato pizza sauce on top of each pizza. If desired, place more toppings on the sauce.

Bake the pizzas until the crusts are golden, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove the pizzas from the oven and let stand for 5 minutes before serving. Makes 4 mini deep-dish pizzas.

Lavender!

Last weekend Dan and I went to Sequim with our friend Yvonne to go see the lavender fields all in bloom. It is a long drive and ferry commute to get there only to be very disappointed if the fields have already been harvested...so we specifically chose this weekend because it is the week before their annual festival guaranteeing fewer people but with the full effect of the beauty. Unfortunately mother nature wasn't in on our plan and the fields weren't quite all in full bloom since we've had such a cold spring/early summer. But none the less, it was beautiful and so fun to be "in the country" for a day.

Here we are trying to cut some lavender and avoid getting stung by bees...






There were flowers everywhere, and quaint little houses.








I love the pattern the mounds make.



Nana is what we called my maternal grandma, and what the grandkids call my mom. This lavender is almost as lovely as my mom aka Nana :)



We ultimately saw two farms the second one had a little pond with frogs! These little guys were awfully loud for how small they were.




And finally a picture of a bee!



It was a beautiful day with great company!

Surprise Weekend Getaway!

Two Friday's ago I got a cryptic email from Dan that said: "Be sure to pack your bags, we are going away somewhere fun Saturday afternoon, night and Sunday" I jumped in my seat for joy, I may have even given a little squeal! Of course I quickly replied wondering where we were going, only with a little prodding did he finally tell me we were headed to La Conner.

Of course we'd been there before for the tulip festival and other occasions, but never had we spent the night. We stayed in a fun little Bed & Breakfast with a quaint garden and views of farm fields. We spent the afternoon roaming around the town in and out of shops, eating ice cream, discovering little hidden nooks and soaking up the beautiful day.










Next time we thought we'd stay here... :)



Dan made me take a picture of this.



We went back to our room with our purchases (Dan and his cookbooks!!) and hung out for a bit until dinner time.



We ate at a great place called Nell Thorn. I had an amazing steak and homemade fries with a WONDERFULLY fresh green salad with pumpkin seed oil dressing. So yummy. Dan had crab cakes (he raved and raved over them) and a steak salad. For dessert we had a small hazelnut brownie with homemade vanilla ice cream. We were pleasantly full and ready to turn in after a fun day.

Thank you so much honey for the thoughtful getaway! Life is so much fun spending it together.